Down-on-luck Veterans Have Another Chance

After using drugs all of his adult life, Ken McCrary has finally found his future, at age 52.

He's living and working in it. And he calls it an "excellent" fit.

McCrary is one of 24 men, most of them homeless, at Veterans' Village, a residential rehabilitation program on the campus of the Orlando VA Healthcare Center.

Tucked away behind the VA Clinic in a refurbished building that was once enlisted bachelors' quarters for the former Orlando Naval Training Center, the Village offers down-on-their-luck veterans a way to make a comeback from drug use, mental illness and chronic medical problems.

"We are not a homeless shelter," said Jan Spencer, a clinical psychologist who runs the Village program. "That implies something overnight or temporary."

Nevertheless, 90 percent of the nearly 100 men admitted to the Village since it opened less than two years ago have been homeless, Spencer said.

Many arrive with only the clothes on their backs. Their only baggage: a history of failure.

Less than a year ago, McCrary was one of them. He had wandered the streets of Gainesville for months until abdominal bleeding sent him to a local hospital. After his discharge, he headed for Orlando and another well-known drug rehab program recommended by a hospital social worker.

Six months of rehab there, however, wasn't enough for a guy who said he drugged his way through his parents' $300,000 estate after their deaths in 1994.

"If you're a lifelong abuser like me, it takes a lot of time" to recover, he said. "There has to be a deep desire to change and the right break at the right time."

He calls the Village his "stepping stone" back into society.

"This program is excellent," he said. "They help you get your act together."

For five months, McCrary has lived comfortably in a private room furnished with a TV and small refrigerator, has eaten three nutritious meals a day and worked a 40-hour week, at minimum wage, distributing linens at the VA clinic and nursing home.

McCrary also is a member of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. On April 24, he will celebrate his first year free of drugs.

When he leaves the Village in about a month, he plans to enroll at Valencia Community College to learn sign language to work with the hearing- and speech-impaired. And he'll pay just $200 a month for an apartment in a transitional-living apartment complex in Eatonville.

This time, his baggage will include $2,000 saved from his pay.

It's a formula that works, said Spencer. Of the 188 men who have applied to the Village since it opened, 92 have been accepted, she said. Sixty-nine percent have completed the program and returned to the community with a place to live and a job, compared with the national average of 46 percent for similar programs.

Although the Village is open to women, few have applied and none has followed through, Spencer said. The waiting list has 14 men.

Admission is free and open to any veteran with at least two years of military service. Residents stay from four to six months, receive free medical care and attend seminars in nutrition, substance abuse, stress and time management, mental health, budgeting and resume writing.

Recreational outings include trips to the beach, movies, bowling and theme-park visits. Local veterans' organizations provide clothing, shoes and toiletries and other amenities.

The Village started as a pilot program in 1999 with 15 beds. Successful from the start, it grew to 24 beds and became an official VA program in August 2000. Its annual budget is about $3 million.

Plans call for a total of 60 beds at the Village to accommodate the area's growth, but the money to pay for them is stalled in the federal pipeline, said Dr. George Van Buskirk, the center's chief medical officer.

"When veterans move here, the [federal] money that comes with them is two years behind them," he said. "People up North aren't anxious to see their money go."

Ramon Lozada, 46, for one, is glad he made the cut into the Village six weeks ago. A recovering heroin user, the former Federal Express driver and hair stylist said the rehab program he left for the Village can't compare.

"This has been a complete blessing," Lozada said. "They take care of you. Anything you need, it's there. You can't ask for more."